If you have been injured in a Washington auto accident, you are probably in the process of filing a claim. When you do so, one of the most important things you need to do as a claimant is to make a complete, thorough and comprehensive list of all your injuries, damages and expenses. Below are some important things to include in your records:
- Property damage: Include photographs wherever possible.
- Injuries: Include documentation wherever possible.
- Medical expenses: Include documentation like receipts and emails.
It is also recommended that you maintain a daily journal:
- How do you feel?
- How has the accident affected you?
- Have you been able to go to work?
- How many days of work did you miss?
- Which pre-accident activities are you unable to participate in after the accident?
- Has there been a significant emotional toll?
- What is the extent of pain you feel?
It is important to write this down in the weeks following the accident, if you are in a position to do so. This is because after the weeks and months pass, you may forget the finer, yet important details.
It is also important that you provide these details to your personal injury Seattle attorney, so he or she will be able to better assess the value of your claim. The success of your personal injury claim depends on the timeliness of your actions and the extent of detail you can provide – be it from the accident scene or in the days immediately after the accident.
If you or a loved one has been injured in a Washington auto accident, please contact the experienced Seattle personal injury attorneys of The Bernard Law Group at 1-800-418-8282 or info@bernardlawgroup.com for a FREE, comprehensive and confidential consultation. We can also send you our FREE brochure, which has useful and educational information to help you understand your legal rights and options. Get in touch with Kirk Bernard and his skilled legal team today.
If you are a dog owner in Washington State and are concerned about protecting yourself from liability in dog bite cases or dog attacks that occur on your property, you need to take a closer look at your Homeowners Insurance policy. In Washington State, dog bite victims can sue dog owners under the state’s “strict liability statute.”
This law states that dog owners are liable for injuries caused by their pets – whether it is on their property, another person’s property or on public property. Unless your dog bites a burglar or an assailant, you may be held liable.
If you are a dog owner, do not make assumptions about coverage. Be sure to read exclusions to your policy as well as the section on liability and medical payments. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), nearly 5 million Americans are victims of dog bites. Also, dog attacks can cause serious damage and high medical bills, easily running into hundreds of thousands of dollars if the victim needs cosmetic surgery. As a dog owner, you need to make sure that your policy includes adequate medical payment coverage as well. It is recommended that you have medical limits of at least $100,000 per incident. Dog owners are not the only ones who may be held liable for a dog bite. Parents of minors who own dogs, dog walkers or dog sitters may also be held responsible in the event of an attack.
If you or a loved one has been injured in a Washington dog attack, please contact the experienced Washington personal injury attorneys with The Bernard Law Group at 1-800-418-8282 or info@bernardlawgroup.com for a FREE comprehensive and confidential consultation and case evaluation. We can also send you our FREE informational brochure about dog bite cases, which has useful information to help you understand your legal rights and options as a victim. Get in touch with Kirk Bernard and his skilled legal team today.
When you get in a Washington car accident that was caused by someone else’s negligence, that individual could be held liable for the accident and your injuries. In such car accident cases, as a plaintiff, you would file a claim for compensation with the at-fault driver’s insurance company. If that individual does not have insurance, then you would file a claim under the uninsured/underinsured motorist clause of your own insurance policy. However, in a car accident case, your compensation is limited to the extent of insurance coverage available.
However, if your car accident or injuries were caused by an auto product defect, then you have an auto products liability case. Examples of vehicle defects include seatbelt failure, tire tread separation, airbag failure and seatback collapse. In such cases, the auto maker or the manufacturer of the defective auto product can be held liable for the injuries caused. Auto makers could also be held responsible for design defects. In such car accidents, it is critical that the vehicle, which is the main piece of evidence, be preserved without any alterations so it can be examined by an expert for auto product defects.
If your loved one has been seriously injured by a defective auto, please contact the reputed Washington auto products liability lawyers at The Bernard Law Firm to find out about your legal rights and options. Please call us at 1-800-418-8282 or e-mail us at info@bernardlawgroup.com to schedule your FREE, comprehensive and confidential consultation. We can also send you our FREE informational brochure about Washington auto product defect cases, which has useful, educational information to help you understand your rights. Get in touch with Kirk Bernard and his skilled legal team today.
The importance of being straightforward and honest with your Washington personal injury attorney cannot be stressed enough. If you are not completely honest about your case with your personal injury lawyer, you may not get the compensation you rightfully deserve. The following list includes several ways you can ensure you get rightful compensation:
- Answer questions about the accident scene thoroughly and honestly. Provide photographic documentation wherever possible.
- Be aware of the kind of injuries you sustained in the accident.
- Be aware of the type of property loss you suffered.
- Be aware of your prior medical history and injuries from other accidents.
If you deliberately withhold information from your attorney or simply “forget” to mention something thinking that it may not be critical to the case, it might become detrimental to your case.
Remember that insurance companies and defense attorneys can access all information any time they want. In fact, they are constantly looking for ways and means to negate your claim or reduce the value of the claim. It may not take them long to discover what you do not tell your attorney or hide from your personal injury lawyer. They will go to any lengths to get this information, even if it means pursuing due diligence in your social networking pages such as MySpace, Facebook or Twitter.
Always remember that your personal injury attorney is the one person aside from you who stands to benefit from your victory. Your injury lawyer is the one person who is on your side. So, be honest, and let him or her fight your case and pursue your rights ethically and aggressively.
If you or a loved one has been injured in a Washington auto accident, please contact the experienced Seattle personal injury attorneys of The Bernard Law Group at 1-800-418-8282 or info@bernardlawgroup.com for a FREE, comprehensive and confidential consultation. We can also send you our FREE brochure, which has useful and educational information to help you understand your legal rights and options. Get in touch with Kirk Bernard and his skilled legal team today.
When you are involved in a Washington State auto accident, one of the focal points of the investigation is who or what caused the accident. If you caused the accident, then you could be held liable for the other person’s injuries. Similarly, if the accident was caused by the negligence or reckless actions of the other driver, then he or she could be held liable for the accident and resulting injuries. But sometimes, a car accident case is not black and white. There may be gray areas. Both you and the other driver may have contributed to the accident.
In such cases, the question that comes up is whether you still have a case if you were partly at-fault or responsible for the accident. Some states have a contributory negligence system. What this means is that the injured person can recover for his or her injuries only if there was absolutely no fault on his or her part. In other words, he or she should not have contributed to the accident in any way. However, that system does not exist in Washington State. What we have here is a system of comparative negligence. This means that you will be compensated depending on what your contribution was to the accident. This essentially means that if you were 50 percent responsible for an accident, the damages awarded to you will simply be reduced to 50 percent.
An experienced Washington auto accident lawyer will be able to guide you through these issues and make sure that you are fairly compensated for your injuries and loss. If you or a loved one has been injured in an accident caused by a reckless driver, please contact the experienced Washington personal injury attorneys of The Bernard Law Group at 1-800-418-8282 or info@bernardlawgroup.com for a FREE, comprehensive and confidential consultation. We can also send you our FREE brochure, which has useful and educational information to help you better understand your legal rights and options. Get in touch with Kirk Bernard and his skilled legal team today.
Washington State has been named the nation’s number one “Bicycle Friendly States” by the League of American Bicyclists for the second year in the row. That still hasn’t prevented bicyclists on our state’s roadways from getting seriously injured as a result of collisions that can be easily prevented. Bicycles are legally considered “vehicles” on Washington’s roadways. What that means is that bicyclists must obey the rules of the road just like drivers of any other vehicle. Bicyclists must take steps to make sure that they are aware of what’s going on around them and avoid common errors that could have devastating consequences:
- Obey all traffic signs and signals. Follow the rules of the road.
- Never ride against traffic. Please remember that motorists are not looking for bicyclists riding on the wrong side of the road.
- Don’t pass a vehicle on the right. Follow lane markings to make left or right turns.
- Look over your shoulder. This is a good practice for bicyclists and must be done without losing balance or swerving. Some bicyclists use rear-view mirrors.
- Wear a helmet always. It could save your life. Never wear headphones or do anything else that can take your attention away from the road. Keep your hands ready to brake.
- Use hand signals to tell motorists and pedestrians what you are going to do.
- Always make eye contact with drivers. It’s best to assume that drivers don’t see you until you make sure that they do.
- Watch out for roadway hazards such as grates, gravel, ice or debris. It’s always safe to cross railroad tracks at right angles.
- If it’s overcast or dark, use lights. Washington law requires bicyclists to use a white headlight visible from at least 500 feet ahead as well as a rear reflector visible from up to 300 feet from behind.
- Maintain your bike well. Check your bike’s brakes and tires regularly.
If you or a loved one has been injured in a bicycle accident in Washington, please contact the experienced Seattle personal injury attorneys with The Bernard Law Group at 1-800-418-8282 or info@bernardlawgroup.com for a FREE comprehensive and confidential consultation. We can also send you our FREE brochure, which has useful educational information to help you better understand your legal rights and options. Get in touch with Kirk Bernard and his skilled legal team today.
About 14 percent of drivers in the United States do not have auto insurance. The main component of any auto insurance policy is known as “liability insurance.” This makes sure you are covered in the event that you injure someone else. Drivers in Washington State also have the option to take what is known as “uninsured/underinsured” motorist coverage. In my opinion, everyone should have this type of coverage because this is the clause in your insurance that really benefits you. What this coverage does is it compensates you if you are hit and injured by a driver who does not have auto insurance or doesn’t have sufficient liability insurance coverage to compensate you for your injuries, damages and loss.
In Washington State, an estimated 18 percent of drivers do not have auto insurance, which raises the possibility of a motorist in Washington getting into an accident with an uninsured driver to nearly one in five. The problem in Washington is that the state still does not require people to provide proof of liability insurance in order to register a vehicle, renew a registration or even receive a driver’s license. If you have been injured in a Washington car accident, understand that the state’s at-fault statute requires that the person responsible for causing the accident pay all costs related to the accident including property damage, medical expenses, loss of wages, pain and suffering, and other related damages.
If you have been involved in an auto accident caused by an uninsured or underinsured driver, get as much information as you possibly can, including pictures, diagrams, and contacts for eyewitnesses. Make sure to file a police report. Get driver’s license numbers, license plate numbers and any other pertinent information. Then, contact an experienced Seattle personal injury lawyer to find out more information about your legal rights and options.
If you or a loved one has been injured in an auto accident in Seattle, please contact the experienced Washington personal injury attorneys with The Bernard Law Group at 1-800-418-8282 or info@bernardlawgroup.com for a FREE comprehensive and confidential consultation. We can also send you our FREE informational brochure, which has useful educational information about car accident cases to help you better understand your legal rights and options. Get in touch with Kirk Bernard and his skilled legal team today.
Washington State has a strict liability statute when it comes to dog bites. What this means is that the dog owner is liable – whether or not the dog attack occurs on public or private property, and whether or not the dog owner was aware of the dog’s prior viciousness. According to the Revised Code of Washington Section 16.08.040: “The owner of any dog which shall bite any person while such person is in or on a public place or lawfully in or on a private place including the property of the owner of such dog, shall be liable for such damages as may be suffered by the person bitten, regardless of the former viciousness of such dog or the owner’s knowledge of such viciousness.”
However, there are some defenses that a dog owner has in such cases. For example, proof of provocation of the attack by an injured person is a complete defense to an action. Also, if the so-called victim is on the property of the dog owner without the owner’s permission (such as a burglar), that is also solid defense. In all other cases, there is a good chance that the dog owner will be held liable for the injuries caused to the victim. In Washington State, if the owner’s dog aggressively attacks and causes serious injury or death to a person, the owner can be convicted of a class C felony. This felony is punishable by five years in state prison, or a fine of $10,000, or both.
If you or a loved one has been injured in a dog attack, please contact the Seattle personal injury lawyers at The Bernard Law Group. We always offer FREE, comprehensive and confidential consultations for Seattle dog bite victims. Call us at 1-800-418-8282 or e-mail us at info@bernardlawgroup.com. We can also send you our FREE informational brochure about Washington dog bite cases with useful educational information that will help you understand your legal rights and options. Please contact Kirk Bernard and his skilled legal team today.
A lot of us may not think of nursing home negligence or abuse as a personal injury case. But if you have a loved one who is in a nursing home or a convalescent home, then you know that the elderly are a particularly vulnerable part of our society. In fact, nursing home abuse can take several forms. There are facilities where the elderly have been physically abused or sexually abused by employees. There have been nursing homes where elderly residents have been emotionally and verbally abused by staff members.
There have been a number of cases where nursing home residents have died or suffered serious personal injuries because they weren’t cared for properly. Examples of such nursing home negligence include failing to monitor the patient’s medical needs, giving them the wrong medication, not changing soiled clothes causing bed sores, and lack of supervision that leads to falls. A number of nursing home negligence and abuse cases have to do with these facilities’ lack of trained or adequate staff. A number of nursing homes, in fact, deliberately understaff their facilities to keep expenses lower and profits higher.
If your loved one has been abused or neglected at a nursing home, please contact the skilled Seattle injury personal lawyers at The Bernard Law Firm to find out how we can help. Please call us at 1-800-418-8282 or e-mail us at info@bernardlawgroup.com to schedule your FREE, comprehensive and confidential consultation. We can also send you our FREE informational brochure about Washington nursing home negligence and abuse cases, which has useful educational information to help you understand your legal rights and options. Get in touch with Kirk Bernard and his experienced legal team today.
Whether you work at a construction site or an industrial warehouse, safety at the workplace is key to avoid serious accidents that could leave you disabled or unable to do your job or earn a living. As a Washington injury attorney, Kirk Bernard knows that there are several steps both workers and managers could take to avoid such tragic incidents at the workplace:
- It is best to avoid dangerous situations that could result in an injury, especially if you work alone. Some examples of activities best avoided include climbing ladders, standing precariously on furniture, using dangerous tools or lifting or loading heavy objects. If you must do these activities, do them when someone else is around so they can get help in case of an accident.
- Always wear proper safety gear to prevent exposure to chemical and physical dangers including dust, gases, noise and temperature.
- Make sure you are properly trained before you do anything. Read safety manuals and make sure you take precautions before beginning the activity. You should be informed of all safety procedures. If you are not comfortable doing something, tell your employer about it.
- Never ignore safety procedures. This is a dangerous practice that can not only expose you but also your co-workers to risk of serious injury. Never have a casual attitude about safety rules or procedures.
- Maintain the work area properly. Good housekeeping is an integral part of maintaining a safe workplace.
If you or a loved one is a personal injury victim in Seattle, please contact an experienced Seattle personal injury attorney with The Bernard Law Group at 1-800-418-8282 or info@bernardlawgroup.com for a FREE comprehensive and confidential consultation. We can also send you our FREE brochure, which has useful educational information to help you better understand your legal rights and options. Get in touch with Kirk Bernard and his skilled legal team today.